


Those Who Sacrifice

by Babykitsune9



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 18:49:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 22,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20783396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Babykitsune9/pseuds/Babykitsune9
Summary: she was a magi, known yet unknown. The last living blood of the late King Solomon with the exception of her younger brother. she had grown up in a world where magic didn't exist. and now- she was home. Masrur/OC with maybe some flirting from Sin. Rated M





	1. Chapter 1

It must have been the odd clothing that first drew their attention to her. That and she was young, and gorgeous.

Her face and body somewhat like their king's. Perfectly proportioned features and build. A pretty and delicate almost fae like face with ivory skin as pale white as the pristine sands of the desert. With long black hair that fell almost to her hips, soft pink lips, and eyes the same color as Masrur's own.

A deep, deep red that was almost the color of red wine. Or perhaps it was more garnet?

It was difficult to tell unless she was looking right at them. And at that moment her focus was entirely on the small throng of hungry children attempting to steal some fresh fruit from one of the merchants present in the market.

Pausing in their steps, the three men watched as if entranced.

And who could blame them? The woman was a vision. Even if she was stupidly decked out in strange black clothing that all but covered her from head to foot.

One of the children managed to get an apple.

And was about to take a bite of it when the merchant noticed them and with a few choice words sent the other children fleeing for cover while their not-so-lucky-on-the-uptake-buddy was left behind to deal with being smacked rather hard and sent sprawling to the ground holding his little face in tears as the merchant picked up his apple and began to rear back his leg when something black went flying by his head.

Turning to see who had just thrown something at him, he completely missed the young woman moving herself over to his stall and while he was busy scanning the crowd- stuffed more than a few fruits and vegetables in the bag that she had been carrying over her shoulder before he could manage to turn back around.

By which point her bag had been put back into place over her shoulder, heavy with her newest additions as she pointed to the merchant's declined goods and told him that some brazen little tart had come by with a few friends while his back was turned and grabbed some stuff and run off with the stolen goods.

Earning a loud shriek of frustration and more than a few swear word from the man before he grabbed a sturdy looking walking stick and ran off to find said 'tart and friends'.

Leaving the woman behind to make a comical face at the man's retreating back before walking over to retrieve the item that she had thrown at the man and check on the kid.

Taking the time to slip the bag from her shoulder and to pull out several fruits and vegetables that she had pilfered so that the kid and his friends would have something to eat, and handed them to the boy and his friends before getting slowly back to her feet and then leaning over to pick up her bag and began to slip it back into place over her shoulder when their king finally spoke.

"You are a very brazen thief for a woman."

The woman stiffened ever so slightly and then turned her head to glance at them, her eyes were garnet- they each noted. Brilliant and bright like polished stones.

"I'm not a thief." The woman said haughtily as she turned to glare at them. "I left the guy money. I simply hid it under some of his stuff. Think of it as..._retribution_ for him hitting that kid." She said as she then turned and began walking through the throng of people.

Believing that that was the end of matters, Masrur and his companion turned to their king only to note that said man was MIA.

"What the hell?!" His companion all but growled as he pulled at his shoulder length pale blond locks in dismay. Looking around the area a little bit, Masrur was able to pick up on his king's location easily enough. He was following the woman.

_Typical_, he thought as he rolled his eyes for a moment before he began carefully maneuvering his way through the crowd. Trailing after his king who was trailing after the strange woman. His fellow companion trailing after him all while muttering oaths under his breath about the himself and their king being 'annoying bastards'.

They followed the woman out of the market place and down by the river where she simply stopped moving and stood on the bank over looking the city as she absently untied something from around her wrist. It was a medium sized rope chain made of silver and at the end of it was a small dark purple stone cut to look like a spear head.

_"Spiritus deliver. Lead thy lost child back upon the path. Guide me." _She said softly to herself as her body began to glow a bright white and the stone at the end of the chain began to swing like a pendulum until finally it stood straight up and leaned just a bit to the left. The vivid purple stone turning pure white from the accumulated energy that she was drawing to her.

If she wasn't careful then her stone would shatter. Sinbad thought to himself as he watched her from just around the corner of a building not too far away, his golden amber eyes staring at her. Taking great interest in the way the ruhk fluttered around her slender body and danced in the air around her.

Under normal circumstances only those blessed by the ruhk would be able to accumulate so much of it. And in those instances such rare occurrences only happened with exceptionally strong sorcerers, magi, and of course anomalies like himself.

Which begged the question... Was this strange young woman a magi? Or perhaps something else? Sinbad wondered as he felt the air stir beside him and turned his head to look at his two friends and smiled as he subtly pointed to the woman.

The two looked and well- Ja'far's jaw dropped open in shock. But Masrur remained as unruffled as ever by even _this_ specific turn of events.

"Is she a magi?" Ja-far finally managed to whisper his question as soon as he regained his wits. Sinbad shrugged his shoulders in response to his question. He had no idea if she was a magi or not. But she was certainly interesting.

And as such she bore watching.

Which was why the began following her again whenever she started to move again. Though her destination was unknown to them, each of them was intrigued by her in some way or another.

Sinbad because she was beautiful and spirited and last but not least, because of the possibility that she may be a magi. An _unclaimed_ one at that. And as such he should offer her a place in his kingdom if she so wished.

Ja-far was interested in her out of curiosity.

And Masrur... Well, he was a little bit easier to read if you knew how too.

He was interested in her purely because he believed she may have fanalis blood in her. And as such would be an ideal candidate as a potential future mate.

* * *

Samantha Alexia Givens was having a fairly good day compared to just some of the days spent wandering this strange new world. She had appeared here a little over six months ago after her adopted father- Alex Givens, had finally passed away after a long hard and grueling battle with cancer.

Leaving her alone in the world until about a week after his passing when she had left her childhood home after locking the house up, loading up her car with a couple of duffle bags. One of clothing and other things as well as a second duffle full of food and drink.

And driving out to the remote wilderness of the mountains where the pull of power she had been sensing ever since she was a little girl finally spiked and a great ornate door had appeared and opened wide as she heard a voice from within say, _"Welcome young princess. I'm so glad that you finally made it back-"_ After which she had grabbed her bags and stepped through the doors and had been mysteriously transported to an unfamiliar mountain region where she had first run into her adopted 'younger brother' Aladdin.

Who had led her into many odd and dangerous situations.

Including a potential war with a large military based nation that wasn't above taking women hostage to be used for entertainment purposes by the soldiers and then sold off as slaves.

She still shuddered to this day about being taken from her bed in the dead of night by such people. Thank god, her late father had been a martial arts master and one _mean_ son of a bitch to boot. Otherwise she wouldn't have fought back like she had and would possibly still be in the Kou empire's clutches.

Speaking of... Her brother and his friend Morgiana would be crossing the desert soon to reach Balbadd. And since Samantha was already here, she had planned to rent out a couple of rooms using the money that she had earned a while back when she had captured her first dungeon so that all of them could stay in a nice place while the kids searched for their friend Ali...uhhh...

_Whatzis name again?_ She wondered to herself, pausing in mid step as she tried to think of his name. She really should recall things like this, especially since he was so damned important to her little brother and his friend but for the life of her she couldn't recall-

_Meow._

"Huh? M-Meow?" She said with a small frown when she happened to look down at her feet and saw her familiar, Stormy-Blue sitting there at her feet. Looking up at her with those bright gem like blue eyes of hers. "Meow." She said again, a bit more sure of the fact that she wasn't accidentally greeting some random kitty like last time.

Stormy-Blue was just a bit jealous natured and had tried to gnaw her arm off tasmanian devil style the last time _that_ had happened.

Stormy-Blue meowed again in response to her greeting and then quickly used her little claws to climb up Samantha's pants leg until she was plucked off of her master's clothing by said girl and given a slight shake as punishment for clawing her before she set her up on her shoulder and began talking to her.

"Did you find those pesky mice's you were looking for?"

"Meow." Stormy replied easily as she curled her little smoky colored tail around her master's nape. _Of course I found them. And the simple fact that I don't have any on me just means that I ate quite well. _Stormy thought, using her telepathy to communicate with Samantha.

Sam just snickered as the kitten licked her paw delicately and began washing her face and ear. "Oh my. What sorry little mice's they are."

_Sorry indeed. They were terrible at playing hide and seek! _Stormy said with an irritated growl. Causing her master's shoulder's to shake a little bit in barely restrained mirth before Stormy suddenly said, _You look like you've gone mad by the way, just walking around aimlessly, talking to a kitten. _

Sam blinked her eyes at that but said nothing as she noted some people cutting a wide berth around her.

"Hn. I guess people consider speaking to animals as weird..."

_It is a possibility. _Stormy pipped in. Sounding just a tad bit more gleeful than she should. Causing Sam to pluck the kitten from her shoulder and dangle her over the side of the bridge she was currently crossing as she growled out, "Careful cat. You piss me off and I'm dropping you in the drink. And I'm betting that there's no law here saying that I can't drown a pest."

Stormy wiggled a little bit in her grasp before letting out a ferocious sounding little growl of outrage before yowling. _That's it! Master or no master- you will pay for this indignity! _

"Yeah, yeah. I'm really shaking cat."

It was while she was solely focused on Stormy that she completely missed being snuck up on by someone until she heard the same male voice from earlier whisper curiously in her ear, "What are you doing to that poor feline?"

Causing her to shriek and almost actually drop Stormy into the river below before she managed to catch the damn kitten and had said feline dig her sharp little talon like claws into her hand in an effort to get dropped and possibly drowned.

_You're a terrible master! _Stormy yowled again as Sam attempted to move back away from the person whom had spoken only to trip over her own feet and wind up crashing against something hard and unyielding with enough force to bruise something.

As Stormy managed to free herself from Sam's grasp and quickly shimmied up her arm to her shoulder where she then jumped on her chest and bared her little fangs at her before jumping down and quickly scampering away. Hissing aloud as she ran.

Leaving her more or less stunned, in the grasp of the person that she had tripped into.

She felt large callused hands grasping her slender shoulder's gently yet firmly as she slowly, very slowly due to her embarrassment, tipped her head back to look up at the one holding her, and squeaked when she met unblinking eyes eerily similar to her own hidden behind slightly long and shaggy red hair.

He was handsome, with a nicely muscled physique. Strong yet not too overwhelmingly strong. He also didn't seem the least bit bothered by the fact that she had tripped- Oh crud she had tripped and fallen against him and had yet to manage to apologize to him!

The realization that her voice along with her manner's having temporarily having fled her was well- _mortifying_ to say the least. Blushing, she put a hand against his chest and gently pushed feeling that if she were able to put a bit of distance between them then maybe her voice would return and she could apologize for falling against him.

He didn't budge of course. But he did seem to understand what the slight push against him meant and while he didn't release her completely, he did carefully put her away from him while maintaining his grip on her shoulders.

"I-I uh...s-s-sorry I-" She stammered out as she tried to get everything out.

He didn't react at first, aside from continuing to stare at her with those unblinking eyes of his for a few moments longer before he finally blinked and abruptly removed his hands from her body as he inclined his head towards her to show that all was well.

Feeling a little bit relieved that he wasn't upset with her since she knew that men in this strange new world rarely had any negative thoughts about raising their hand to a woman in violence, she breathed a small sigh before turning to his two companions who had been watching the exchange with great interest.

One, a tall exotic man with golden amber eyes and long dark purple hair, whom was smirking as if amused.

And the other a slightly shorter, younger male with a slight spray of freckles across the bridge of his nose and his pale cheeks with emerald colored eyes and pale blond hair, whom was hanging back watching the exchange between her and red with a slight blush.

_A blush? Really? Just how much of a girl can one person be?_ She wondered as the purple haired guy finally said, "So- you like the strong silent type eh? A pity. I would have liked to get to know you better."

"First of all, I'm not interested in getting to know you. And secondly- chase someone else's skirt. I have better things to do than entertain a perv."

His smile never faltered. In fact if anything it widened to the point she wanted nothing more than to slap the hell out of him. In fact, her palms were actually itching so badly to do just that that she couldn't stop her fingers from occasionally twitching.

"What do you want?"

"Oh nothing. Merely to ask a question." The man said as he crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head slightly to the side as he studied her.

"Then ask you're damn question and then get lost."

"My you have quite an abrasive personality." The man said almost cheerfully as she gave him a cynical looking smile that looked, for lack of a better phrase- out of place- on one so young.

_"Annoying bastard." _She in English just to throw him since no one in this strange new world seemed to know what English even was. The man blinked at her as if she had sprouted horns or something.

"First off my lady, may I have your name?" The man asked politely as he bowed to her. _Ah, turning on the charm to see_ _if that works on me any- This guy is going to be in for a rude awakening_. She thought. Especially since mock politeness and insincere people tended to bug her.

However seeing as he had asked for her name- something that she wasn't feeling all that inclined to give him since names- like many other words held a certain sort of power in this land. And speaking one's name to someone showing so much interest in oneself was never really a very good or smart thing to do.

"No. You may not." Sam said in an icy tone that practically screamed, _Your on thin ice pal_. To the guy and watched as he sort of cringed a little bit as he rubbed at his nape with one hand.

"I-I see." His emboldened attitude finally faltering almost to a crawl he looked somewhat uncertain of himself for a moment. "Well that is a pity. I would have liked to know, but I suppose it isn't entirely necessary for my question..." _Ah_ _finally._ Sam thought in irritation as he went on to ask, "I wondered if perhaps you were a magi since you seem to have an unusual amount of ruhk fluttering about you."

Sam stiffened slightly, as a terse sounding 'no' escaped her lips.

The man's expression brightened considerably. "You are!"

"No! No I'm not!" Sam denied adamantly. Dammit she had spent the better part of the past hundred or so years trying to hide what she was and by god she was going to remain hidden! She refused to have all of her efforts ended by some- some _jerk_ who couldn't seem to take no for a fucking answer.

"Come now, I know that I'm right. You protest far too much to be telling the truth." He said with a chuckle, his expression bemused.

"Is that all?"

"Huh?"

"Is that all that you wanted?"

"Well yes-"

"Then goodbye." Sam said as she turned and quickly brushed past the somewhat startled looking red head as the man all but shouted at her,

"Hey wait! I wasn't finished speaking. I have a proposition for you!" As he began to go after her. Sam let out a low feral sounding growl from the back of her throat and used a spell to subtly freeze his feet to the ground along with his friends so that none of them could chase after her and quickly took the time the spell gave her to escape.


	2. Chapter 2

Later that evening-

"I can't believe that I let a magi slip right through my fingers!" Sinbad cried in exasperation that night over dinner with his two traveling companions and general's, Ja-far and Masrur.

Ja-far merely regarded his king coolly from over the rim of his wine cup and none too subtly kicked the man in the shin, causing him to yelp and jump a little bit before he reached down and absently rubbed the place where he'd been kicked.

Masrur eyed his king as he slowly took his time eating his meal. His red eyes staring unblinking for several seconds as Sinbad hissed at the blond sitting across from him, "Ow! What are you doing?!"

"You know, despite that girl possibly being a magi... I got the sense that she wished to remain hidden. As if she were trying to deny just _who_ or _what_ she was."

"I know. Though I don't understand why she would act that way," Sinbad said after a moment or so as he got a thoughtful look on his face. "To my knowledge every magi that I've ever come across have been rather proud of what they were. To attempt to hide herself in such a way... That girl must truly have suffered something terrible as a magi." Sinbad said, his expression veiled.

Though Masrur could detect a trace of sorrow in his tone before he asked Masrur for his impression of the girl.

Taking a slow drink of his wine, the man swallowed and then used his napkin to wipe his mouth as he tried to think of something beyond what he had been able to smell and sense from the girl when he had had his hands on her.

"I think that you are right in your assumption that something terrible has happened to her at some point. I also have a vague impression that she has some fanilis blood in her. Her eyes were far too much like my own to be that of a normal person's."

Sinbad hummed, finding the possibility that the girl had fanilis blood in her to be fascinating given the fact that she was rather fair skinned and had dark hair instead of the ever shocking red that other's of fanilis blood sported.

"Anything else?" Sinbad prompted as Masrur thought for a second before saying,

"It was subtle. And I'm not even sure if she was aware of it, but when I had my hands on her- after she had fallen into me- I could feel this strange sensation."

"Strange sensation?"

Masrur nodded his head slowly. "It was peculiar. Erratic. Much like her heartbeat..." He stopped talking for a second before stating plainly, "She was afraid. Terrified really, though she managed to hide it well. Anyways the sensation that I felt- was as if she was _pushing_ at me with her ruhk. Not physically mind you. But pushing just the same. It was _uncomfortable_."

"Hm. I see." Was all that Sinbad could think as his general quietly excused himself and got up to leave his king and friend to talk for a bit before bed and silently left the room.

Thoughts of thee girl from earlier that day weighing heavily on his mind as he made his way to his room and began to reach out to open the door when he noted that the door was strangely already open. In fact it was ever so slightly ajar and he could detect the faintest of scents from inside the room that didn't belong to him.

It was feminine. Floral. Exotic like wild jasmine.

And so damned tempting that he found himself slipping inside the room before he could so much as stop to check his actions and stopped just a few feet away from his bed where he saw the slight figure of a young woman with long dark hair, wearing nothing but black, lying there on her back in the middle of his bed- with one hand laying on her flat stomach and her other stuffed under his pillow- sound asleep.

_It's her_. _It's her!_ His mind chanted happily, the words echoing in his mind as if there were a caress. And he was right, he admitted to himself. It was indeed the girl from before sleeping in his bed.

Looking back over his shoulder, he began weighing the pros and cons of going to inform his king that the girl was present at the inn however he managed to still himself after a moment or so, deciding that informing his king of her presence would only result in some sort of shenanigans from his king that would leave him and Ja-far wishing that they could throttle the man.

So that was a huge no on telling Sinbad anything at the moment. Besides, she was in _his_ room. Asleep in his bed. And if his many, many years of living with Sinbad had taught him anything about himself- it was this.

He was a firm believer in finder's keepers.

He found her. So he was going to keep her. End of story.

Moving stealthily the fanalis got well within reaching distance of the bed and the person in it and absently reached out to touch her. Careful to keep his contact with her brief, and as gentle as the fluttering of a butterflies wings- he let his fingertips ghost along the soft curve of her cheek.

Noting absently that he felt a shiver work it's way down his spine as he lightly traced the shape of her lips eliciting a soft moan from the girl before he finally pulled his hand away and took a few calculated steps back away from the girl and his bed to maintain a certain amount of control over himself, and slowly moved over to the nearest wall where he sank down to sit on the floor and simply decided that he would stay up all night and watch her.

That way if she tried to escape in the morning, he could stop her.

_Yeah_\- That could work.


	3. Chapter 3

Masrur didn't move so much as a muscle from where he was sitting, too worried that if he did- he would wake the girl and she in turn would probably scream loud enough to make his sensitive ears bleed. And wake everyone in the inn to boot. Which would be bad. Especially since Sinbad seemed rather fixated on her.

Probably because she was both a beautiful woman, and a magi. Or at the very least someone who could use ruhk like a magi could. Whatever came first.

Either way his interest in the woman could prove..._irksome_ to Masrur's mission to see if the woman would be an ideal potential mate.

After all, he was still of the impression that she had at least _some_ fanilis blood flowing through her veins. Which simply made her all that more appealing to him as a male fanilis. Especially since there were so very few of them left in the world today.

The hours ticked by slowly. Almost agonizingly slow to him as he whiled away the hours listening to the soothing rhythm of her heartbeat while watching the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. All while thinking of how best to approach her.

So far his only real ideas were- 1) Securing food for them both before she awoke in the morning and locking them inside of his bedroom together to eat and talk a bit. Especially since he was still sort of curious about how she had come to wind up in his bed.

And then there was idea 2) Tying her to a chair and feeding her from his hand while they talked. Of course they would have to avoid both Sinbad and Ja-far so he couldn't spend all day locked up in his room.

He'd have to report in for his daily duties to his king if he wished to keep the man and Ja-far out of his affairs until he at least figured things out completely.

And once he had everything figured out- whether or not the woman was a viable potential mate- as well as whether or not he should lay claim to her as his... Undergo the rituals of his people to secure his right to her and so on- then and only then would he feel okay with letting other males near her.

As it was already, he couldn't smell any other's scents on her with the exception of a young male. A child from the somewhat milk-ish sweet smell of his scent.

And he couldn't help but wonder if perhaps the child was hers in some way.

Was that why she had been in such a hurry to escape his king before? Did something perhaps happen to the child and she was searching for him?

And then there was of course the ever present and persistent question of- if the boy was hers- was he her brother or her son? It was definitely something that he needed to plan accordingly for, just in case he did wind up mating her.

By this time, the darkened room was beginning to lighten with the first rays of the morning sun and Masrur slowly unfolded his body from the awkward position that he had sat in all night and carefully got to his feet, intending to quickly go and fetch himself and the woman something to eat while he could he slipped from his room and made his way down to the kitchen where breakfast was just finishing being put together.

"Ah, lord general. Good morning sir." The cook said in greeting as he pulled the loaf of bread that he had just finished baking from the over before it burned. "You're just in time. I just finished making some food. Please, sir- feel free to help yourself to whatever you want."

Masrur nodded his head in understanding and quietly grabbed a tray two sets of silver, two plates, and two cups. And then began to single mindedly go through the food carefully placed on the counter before him and got a little bit of everything ranging from fresh fruit, to some bread, a small dish of freshly churned butter, some cooked vegetables, fish baked in a light coating of garlic, onion, salt, and paprika with a touch of butter.

He also grabbed a pitcherof mulled wine an another of water, just in case the woman wasn't much of a drinker like he could sometimes be. After all, he wanted her to feel comfortable while they spoke and while sometimes wine helped people relax- it also sometimes- in most cases with women, made one feel very uncomfortable and more vulnerable. Especially if the one drinking wine was a male.

In such instances, Masrur himself tended to refrain from drinking wine though he had a pretty high tolerance, just so that he could put others at ease. The entire idea was to make himself appear less harmless than he actually was.

It was an idea that he may have to put into action yet again when the girl awoke, and while it was a tad bit frustrating for him as a fanalis. He believed that as long as his effort yielded fruit then perhaps it was worth it.

Gathering the tray in his hands, he nodded to the cook who just smiled and waved as he quietly left and began heading back to his room.

Once there, he paused outside the door to listen and see if the woman was still asleep and nodded to himself when he could hear the faint sounds of her flopping around on his bed in an effort to get more comfortable before settling back down.

Lips quirking faintly in amusement, Masrur slipped back inside of the room and gently closed the door and slid the lock into place and then moved to place the tray on the table over by the window where he then took a few moments to set the dishes, silver, pitchers, and then carefully began dividing the food between himself and the woman as he heard her let out a soft moan and turn over.

Pausing briefly to glance in her direction, he waited until she appeared to be waking up before he finished up his current task and then quickly made his way back to his previous place against the wall and sat himself back down as she rolled over one last time and finally seemed to open her eyes.

Blinking those pretty garnet red eyes of hers groggily, she took a moment to do a quick looksee around the room before frowning and muttering, "What the- I thought that I passed out outside last night." Causing Masrur to feel like he should be gaping at her in utter disbelief before he finally managed to shake himself mentally and simply remained carefully stoic as she slowly sat up and stifled a yawn behind one of her delicately boned hands.

By this time Masrur didn't need to ask how she had come to be in his room anymore. He pretty much had been able to connect the dots. Which went something along the lines of, girl passes out in public, someone finds girl- girl is then brought inside and placed in his bed to recover.

The inn manager was likely waiting to ambush her with a bill for last night's 'free' lodging.

_The bastard. _Masrur thought as he figured that he would either pay the bill for her or tell the manager not to bother his woman. After all, the man was least likely to want to have much direct contact with her to hound her about anything if he believed that she was his fiancée or wife or something.

Which only left him with about a million other things that he wanted to know about her.

Like why does she wear black? Or where did she come from? She was a lovely woman, why hadn't she been married off to someone yet? Was she a widow?

No wait- he still couldn't smell a male scent on her aside from the child's. And while that didn't necessarily mean anything if she had been without a lover for a long time, especially since the male scents tended to stick only for a little while.

Like a few weeks afterwards. And she would have had to be without for years to merely carry her own scent plus the boy's.

Okay so yeah- he wanted to know if she was a widow. Again, the information could be of some use later on down the line. So it was best to cover as much ground as he could.

He heard her say something else, something along the lines of- "And there is a person here." Which he supposed meant that she had finally noticed him sitting there and was now waiting for him to say something. Unless of course she managed to hide another person under the messed up tangle of sheets on his bed that is.

"Good morning." He said politely, recalling her harsh and somewhat cold manner towards his king the day before.

"Hi, red. So what's a handsome fella like you doing in a place like this?" Her slightly teasing manner threw him a little. Mainly because he couldn't really tell if she actually was teasing him, flirting with him, or if the way she had phrased the words were just the way that she talked.

He sort of hoped for either one of the first and second option himself. God knew that it would make things so much easier on the both of them in the long run.

Blinking at her for a second he didn't dare to move to stand again until she finally stood. And when he did, he couldn't tear his eyes away from her as se stretched her arms up over her head and arched her back a little bit, making his mouth go dry as his eyes curiously- landed on the gentle swells of her plump breasts.

Mentally calculating the size of her chest in his head he reasoned that she was just slightly bigger than his fellow general, Yamriha. Sindria's resident magician/healer.

She had a similar physical build as well.

_Weird_. Masrur thought to himself with a slight frown as she suddenly dropped her arms to her side and then reached up to finger comb her sleep tousled hair.

Biting back a soft growl, Masrur decided that once he was sure the was a viable potential mate- he'd make sure that her hair stayed tousled. _Always. _Especially since it made her look more appealing to him. As it was his fingers with itching to tangle themselves in her hair and fix it now that she had ruined it.

"Hey what are you doing!" Her voice suddenly shrieked right next to his ear causing his to flinch before realizing, _Oh_ _shit._ He had actually reached out and tangled his fingers in the thick silken locks and was currently re tousling them. Oh dear god what was wrong with him? He wondered as he abruptly released her, and mentally shook himself as she covered her head with her hands and shot him a glare causing him to try to appease her by lying to save his ass.

After all, he wanted to stay in her good graces a while longer.

"S-Sorry. You had something in your hair." He said as he held his hands up in a placating gesture. Her glare gradually lightened a bit. But only just so. A sure indication that he had overstepped his bounds and had better watch himself from now on.

"Did I now?"

He didn't bother replying vocally this time, instead he just nodded his head at her. She stared at him a second like she didn't believe him and then finally seemed to simply let it go with a lightly spoken, "Alright."

_Whew. Safe for now_. He thought to himself as she finally pointed out. "So you never answered me before." He blinked at her wondering what she was talking about when he finally recalled her earlier question.

What was a handsome guy like him doing in a place like this?

_Slowly going insane obviously_. He thought in wry amusement. Either that or he had spent far too many years in Sinbad's company. The man's weirdness was beginning to rub off on him.

"This was my room until late last night apparently. You?"

"I was looking for someone. Well- a few someone's. One of which was the kitten that I had with me earlier in the day yesterday." He nodded his head slowly as he listened to her explain that the feline wasn't an average cat and was in fact a magical being given into her keeping.

However the cat was currently pissed at her for taking one of her jokes too far. And had spent the better part of yesterday evening chasing her from one end of the town to the other for _hours_ before she had finally gotten distracted by something else. Leaving the woman lost and on her own in an unfamiliar part of town where she had shortly thereafter passed out.

She didn't seem to recall being picked up or brought to his room.

Frankly it was an incredible story. But Masrur didn't get the impression that the woman was lying to him so that was something he supposed.

Once she was finished explaining how she had likely ended up in his room, she then apologized stating that her presence thee must have been very inconvenient for him. To which he merely shook his head no before vocalizing that he had found her presence soothing. So he didn't really care that she had taken his bed.

After that, he had pointed out that he had grabbed some breakfast for them both if she wished to sit and eat while they talked a little more. The girl hesitated for a moment, her expression carefully masking what she thought of his suggestion before she made her way over to the table and then slowly pulled one of the chairs out and sat down in it.

Snagging his own chair, he pulled it out just enough to seat himself across from her and glanced at her for a moment. Wondering why she was suddenly so silent.

Was she perhaps thinking of something? Was she upset?

Taking a moment to get comfortable, he asked. "Is there something wrong? You're very quiet all of a sudden."

"Um, no. Everything is fine."

"Oh?" Masrur said in a curious tone as he propped his chin in his palm and stared at her. "You seem like you want to say something, but are holding yourself back."

"I am not."

"Are."

"Not." She argued back causing him to smile a bit in amusement. _How funny_. Here they were with a nice breakfast spread between them, and they were too busy arguing like an old married couple to bother to even enjoying it.

Deciding to shift conversation a bit he tried something else, "Can I ask your name?"

The woman tensed a bit before replying, "I refuse to give anyone I don't know my name."

"Because names have power..." He guessed. She said nothing and instead looked away from him and began to chew her bottom lip. His gaze lowered to her mouth for a second before he slowly said, "My name is Masrur." Causing her to quickly turn her eyes back to him.

Satisfied that he had her undivided attention again, he waited patiently until she finally said. "I can't tell you my first name," At which point he quirked a brow at her before she then said, "I can however give you my middle name."

"Very well." He said as he reminded himself that baby steps were necessary. One had to begin small and gradually gain ground in relationships. Or at least that's what Ja-far always told Sinbad when he was out to woo some woman.

"My middle name is Alexia."

"That's a nice name." He replied after a moment or so of thought. Her middle name sounded like it was a variation of the Reim empire's dungeon capturers. Was she perhaps related to one of the men there? He wondered as he made a mental note to work his way up to asking at some point.

"So is yours." Though she hoped that if she ever manage to say it she pronounced it right.

He gave her a lazy smile. "Thanks. Do you mind my asking some thing's?"

"Depends on what it is?"

"Nothing too bad."

"Then fire away."

You asked for it. He thought as he started out small. Asking things like, "Where are you from?" or "What country?" and "Are you alone?"

To which she replied, "You've probably never heard of it before." and "Not really." Which covered all of his questions for the time being forcing him to move on.

"Do you have a husband or lover?"

"No."

"Children?"

"Just my younger brother."

"What happened to your parents?"

"They died a long time ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that. It must have been difficult."

"Not really. The only difficult thing was trying to find my brother after being separated for so long."

"But you did find him?"

"Yes. About eight months ago. And then the little bugger wandered off and I lost him again."

Masrur gave her a funny look at that. He knew that young children could be difficult sometimes, but he had never heard of anyone finding someone and then losing them again almost immediately afterwards before. Which made him wonder just how old the boy was.

Shaking himself from his stupor, he asked her. _Cautiously_ since this sounded like a particularly touchy subject to him. To which she replied, "He's about nine or ten."

"How long has he been missing?"

"Three months. He wandered into a dungeon with some other people."

That of course wasn't what he had expected to hear. In fact that little snippet of information was more than slightly alarming. "Why exactly would a nine or ten year old kid wander into a dungeon?"

"I'm not sure, but I think he decided to make friends with one of the people going. And simply decided to follow his new friend."

He sighed softly and tapped the table with his index finger and muttered, "Eat." Because once she was done he now had no choice but to go and get his king and inform him of what he had learned. Everything else would simply have to wait for later on.


	4. Chapter 4

If Alexia noted any change in him during their meal, it was only due to his anxiousness from being told about her younger brother. The entire time he had spent eating, he had actually been wondering if perhaps her brother had perished in the dungeon and she simply didn't know.

Of course on the off chance that the boy was still alive, then it was possible that he had been teleported elsewhere. Which would account for her using the ruhk from time to time. Especially if she were tracking her brother using her abilities as a magi.

Still, if there was a chance that he, Ja-far and his king could help her find her brother again- then they had to try. Which meant he'd have to take her before Sin the moment that she finished breakfast.

Glancing across the table at her, he noted that she was finally finished with her food.

_Good. _He thought to himself as he slowly got to his feet and moved around to her side of the table and extended his hand to her so that he could help her up out of her seat. His education on decorum from his time spent in Sinbad's royal court, kicking in almost automatically.

Alexia gave him a hesitant look. A small frown working it's way across her pretty face as she slowly reached out and placed her small hand in his own and let him pull her up out of her chair. Once she was on her feet, he placed a hand gently on the small of her back- feeling the slight shiver that caused her to shudder under his palm- and began to lead her towards the door.

Pausing briefly to unlock it, he then opened it and led her out of his room and into the hall.

"Um. Masrur?"

"It's alright. I just need to speak to my companions about maybe helping you find your little brother." He explained hoping that she wouldn't be so reluctant to meet Sinbad if it meant gaining aid to find her brother.

Leading her down the hall to Sinbad's room, he knocked quietly and waited until the door opened a bit and Ja-far peeked out. First looking at him before noticing the woman and then flinging the door open wide. "Masrur! How did you-"

He pushed the door open and held it open so that he and Alexia could slip inside while Ja-far abandoned his post to run and go tell Sinbad that the girl was in his room.

To which he could hear his foolish king groggily say, "Girl? What girl?" Just before he had a basin of icy water dumped over his head by Ja-far whom sounded like he was calling Sinbad every dirty name he could think of for being stupid. Shortly after which Sinbad had managed to redress in some clean clothing and was making his way out of his bedroom with Ja-far close on his heels.

Both men bickering back and forth before Sinbad seemed to notice that Masrur wasn't alone in the room and paused upon seeing Alexia. His expression going from shocked to mortified and then back to his usual suave smile. "So we meet again young miss. And how are you this fine day?"

Masrur didn't bother letting Alexia speak for herself as he blurted out, "I think I know why she was in such a hurry yesterday to get away form us." And it was true, that looking for one's lost brother would rank pretty damn high on one's priority list.

Far higher than meeting a legendary king/womanizer anyways.

Sinbad frowned at him but said nothing as he waited for someone to tell him something so that he wasn't quite so lost anymore. "She told me that she was searching for her younger brother."

At this, Sin seemed to become curious as he sat down on a lounge chair and folded his hands in his lap as he waited to hear the details.

"You see, her parents have been dead for a long time and the only family that she has left is her brother. They were separated for a while, but when her parents both died, she went looking for her brother. And she finally found him a few months back. But then the boy wandered into a dungeon with some other people and I think she's been attempting to use her ruhk to locate him." Masrur said as he watched both Sinbad and Ja-far's incredulous expressions before Ja-far practically shouted.

"How could she let something like that happen? Dungeon's are dangerous!"

To which Alexia pushed him aside rather roughly, much to his shock and surprise, and quickly made her way over to where the blond stood and grabbed him by the front of his robes and jerked him in close enough so that he could hear the rather impressive sounding growl of rage that escaped her upon hearing his insulting words.

"Of course I know how dangerous dungeon's are you little fool! I spent a great deal of time after my parent's death just trying to escape one! Do you really think I would have allowed Aladdin anywhere near one of those damned things if I hadn't been otherwise occupied fighting some flipping slaver's that had tried to corner me?! Of course not! You obviously don't think before you speak, you brat." She snarled before giving him a rather harsh shake before she finally put him away from her.

Ja-far blinked at her as both Masrur and Sinbad listened and absorbed every word that she had said. Both men frowning upon hearing about the time she had spent in a dungeon herself as well as the slaver's that had attempted to corner her.

"You never mentioned having been in a dungeon yourself. Or the slavers." Masrur said with a barely suppressed hint of censure in his tone.

"You didn't ask." Alexia said simply in an irked tone as she moved back to his side as Sinbad finally asked,

"You were really in a dungeon? And if so, can you tell me how long you spent there?"

"Yes and at least two years and three months." Alexia said after a moment or so of calculating the time she had spent in the dungeon where she had used to pass from her former home world and into this world.

All three men stared at her with varying degree's of shock and awe.

"T-Two years and three months. Are you serious? The average life expectancy of someone lost within a dungeon is less than an hour. And you really somehow managed to survive in one for two years?!"

"I don't really expect you to believe anything. What you choose to believe is up to you. Besides, dungeon's aren't so bad once you get used to the way things work. And the magic items and such are great for practicing spells and such on."

"So...if you were in a dungeon, I suppose that means that you captured it?"

"No."

"Then how did you get out?"

"I blew it up."

"Huh?" Sinbad said unintelligibly, his golden amber eyes blinking at her.

"Yeah I kind of got pissed about not being able to get out so I grabbed the Djinn and placed it in a small item so that I could carry it with me and then I blew the place sky high. I knew that I had been gone a while and that I needed to find my brother so..."

"O-Oh. I see." Sinbad said somewhat hesitantly. Masrur didn't really think that he could blame him any. Especially since he was already making all kinds of mental notes not to piss her off. After all, he didn't want to get himself blown up. He was pretty sure that he would dislike it if that happened.

"And the dungeon that your brother...ugh, Aladdin was it? What about it? Was it captured?"

"Yes. And I spoke with one of the three survivors. He told me that he, a former slave girl and a small boy survived and managed to escape the dungeon."

"I see, so your brother survived. That's good." Sinbad said after a moment or so of silence before going on to say. "Very well, I Sinbad will use all of my resources to aid you in your search for your brother. Do you have an idea of where he is?"

"Uh, yeah actually. He and one of the other people from the dungeon are traveling across the desert at the moment and should reach here by sometime around noon."

Looking a little put out after he had just given Alexia his word that they would help her find her brother only to learn that he would be arriving in Balbbad around noon. Why if he didn't know any better he would almost say that he'd been set up by a particular man.

Golden amber eyes flickered briefly to Masrur, taking in the closeness of his body to the woman's own and he suddenly perked up a little bit in his seat, his eyes going wide as Masrur turned his head a little bit to look down at the woman. His red eyes staring. Almost as if- as if he were- oh!

_Oh! _Sinbad thought almost excitedly.

His young fanilis friend was interested in the woman. Which was surprising to Sinbad. Especially since Masrur had never really shown any actual interest in anyone male or female. At least not in the romantic sense anyways.

It had something to do with his blood and his tribe. Sinbad supposed. After all the fanalis were apart from normal people due to their particular traits. Their superhuman strength, their speed, their heightened senses... Could be not only a gift but a curse when one really thought about it.

Still this was an interesting turn of events. Very much so. And as such- Sinbad was going to do everything in his power as both a friend to Masrur and a fellow man to help the general secure the woman as his.


	5. Chapter 5

Samantha was weaving her way through the crowded streets, attempting- in vain, she might add- to ignore the three men trailing along in her wake. Her mind going over the earlier conversation where Sinbad had all but demanded that she _let_ him and his friends meet Aladdin.

In fact he had even gone so far as to recruit Masrur and Ja-far to try and get her to bend to his will while making it seem as if she had merely decided to change her mind from her original decision. Which had been a great big fucking _NO_. And for good reason too, the man was sly and manipulative.

And Aladdin had a nasty habit of picking up weird personality traits from the people around him.

One hour spent in the company of Sinbad and her little brother would be joining the legion of Jedi knights. He'd be Jedi-ing people all over the place!

So how had the damn man managed to get this far? You may ask. It was simple. He was a creeper and a stalker. And that was just another reason why she didn't want her brother exposed to him.

Sighing, she hung her head a little bit as she continued to walk and almost jumped out of her skin when she felt a large warm hand slide under her hair at the nape of her neck and rest itself there. Causing her to suddenly glance up and to her...right? Where she found Masrur walking along beside her. His pace matching her own as he slowly slide his thumb back and forth along the skin of her neck in what could have been a comforting manner.

If not for the fact that she was so worried about her brother becoming a damned Jedi.

"What's wrong?" Masrur's deep voice cut through her thoughts like a knife cuts through butter. She glanced up at him again to find his eerie scarlet colored eyes staring down at her in the same unblinking manner from yesterday.

She frowned a little bit as she considered his words for a moment before deciding to lie.

"Nothing's wrong."

Masrur's fingers tightened around her nape a fraction. Not enough to be painful- he was very mindful of the fact that he still didn't really know if she carried fanilis blood in her or not. And thus was very aware of just how much the normal human body could take from him before he did some serious damage.

"You're lying." He said with a little bit of censure in his voice. He disliked being lied too. He always had, ever since his days as a gladiator and slave as a child. Still...she wasn't aware of his past history anymore than he was aware of her own and as such he decided to only probe her a little bit more before he would chalk the lie up to mere stress.

"I-I am not." She stammered out, another small frown marring her lovely face.

He tightened his grip on her nape just a tad more and paused when he felt a slight shiver work it's way down her spine. Was he scaring her? He wondered idly as he slipped his hand from her nape to the shoulder opposite of him so that his arm was around her.

She made a little squeaking sound as he gently pulled her against his side and simply held her there as he used his body to partially shield her/lead her through the crowd. Not really bothering once to look back and see if his king and friend were still following.

He didn't really need too.

He knew enough about Sinbad's personality by now to know just how tenacious the man could be when pursuing something that he wanted.

Ja-far at least had some restraint- though he was a bit more ruthless in his dealings with specific things.

But then if the two men were ever lucky enough to have a person actually catch and hold their interest for more than two or three minutes then it made sense to him, for them to be a bit more relentless in their pursuit of _whatever_ it was that had caught and held their attention in the first place.

He...had never really been so lucky when it came to things and people.

He was a warrior by both nature and design and because of this, people were wary of him. Of his strength and brutality. Most people who recognized him for what he was feared him to be nothing but a mindless savage.

And yet... Alexia caught and held his attention. Not completely because she was a magi. Not completely because she had fanilis blood (maybe?). But because of her personality.

He'd seen it yesterday when she had tripped over her own feet and slammed into him.

She had been instantly, and curiously attracted to him from the very moment she had looked up at his face. He had sensed it as surely as he had smelt it.

Which he didn't do often- smelling people on purpose that is.

But he had smelled her, her honey sweet yet spicy scent had flooded his nostril's as he has gripped her slender shoulders in his hands, feeling the fragile bones that had lain just under her skin and he had had to bite back the urge to purr.

Purr for god's sake!

Like a damned cat.

And that hesitant, awkward, shy look on her face had been so cute. So fetching, that he had wanted to growl as he pulled her up against him and buried his nose against her throat.

He slipped his hand from her shoulder to her elbow as they continued to walk for a little while longer in silence before she finally said, "U-Um... M-Masrur?" He hummed to show that he was listening to her even though it probably didn't seem like it right then. "W-Why are you holding onto me in such a-" He turned his head to look down at her and she squeaked, her face turning an adorable pink color as his eyes met hers.

"Is there something wrong with me holding you?" It was as much a question as it was a challenge.

She was quiet for a second, her face flushed as she looked away from him and opened her mouth to mutter something when all of a sudden she stopped walking and was nearly toppled over by Masrur since he didn't quite realize that she had stopped moving as a young voice called out.

"Big sis!" A mere moment or so before Alexia carefully extracted herself from his grasp and took several steps forward as a small white and dark blue blur ran up to her and then tackled her to the ground.

Blinking at his potential mate sitting on the ground with her arms around a small boy with nearly knee length dark blue hair pulled back into a braid, hugging her around the waist as he rubbed his face against the fabric of her shirt.

"I had such an adventure! But I missed you big sis! Did you miss me too?" The boy said after a moment or so. Alexia smiled at him and merely hugged him a little tighter.

"You little goofball, of course I missed you! How could I not?"

The boy shrugged his slim shoulders and then grinned at her as Masrur dropped down to one knee beside her and looked back and forth between the two. Curious about the boy and yet irked that he had been so quickly dismissed. He might have nudged Alexia to remind her of his presence and the fact that she had yet to introduce him to the boy, but she seemed to remember that he was there all of a sudden and patted the boy on top of the head as she said, "Aladdin, this is my new friend Masrur. Masrur, this is my younger brother Aladdin."

"Hello!" The boy chirped at him. Masrur bobbed his head in greeting without speaking a word. His lips quirking up at the corners just the slightest bit as he casually observed the two siblings as they spoke to one another.

"I got adopted by a lady named Baba. And then war broke out, and Baba was killed after being shot by an arrow. And then I ran into my friend Morgiana! The both of us got captured by slavers, but then Morgiana beat them all up and then we and everyone else that had been locked up- escaped! And then we traveled through the desert together and once we got here- I lost Morg. And then I got lost and some guy that I ran into did some really weird stuff to me, and then I found you!"

Alexia looked like she wanted to both laugh and cry as she carefully set the boy on his feet and then slowly got up. Masrur followed her lead since he was new to the whole family concept.

Besides, he'd need the practice for when he mated and had children as Alexia put her hands on her hips and all but hissed out, "What the hell do you mean 'some strange guy did things to you'?"

Aladdin blinked at her, his smile never faltering in the least as he replied. "He kept touching me an stuff."

"What do you mean he kept touching you?" Alexia demanded. Masrur cocked his head and wondered if the boy meant _that_ kind of touching. He certainly hoped not but one could never tell with people. Some were just sick.

"Well, I think he thought I was a little girl or something. He wanted to take my clothes off." Aladdin said, his smile finally faltering some as a wary look entered his dark blue eyes.

Masrur's eyes went wide at the implications of what Aladdin had just said and quickly looked to Alexia who was growling softly as she reached out and picked the little boy up and handed him to Masrur and snapped. "Guard. Him."

Never one to make himself a target for a woman's wrath, Masrur quickly nodded his head and put the boy on his shoulders as Alexia took off into the crowd and disappeared before he could so much as call out her name or stop her.


	6. Chapter 6

"Where did she go?" Sinbad panted slightly as he and Ja-far finally managed to catch up to Masrur. Only casting a curious glance in Aladdin's direction. Masrur shrugged his shoulders. Not really sure what to tell his king when little Aladdin piped up,

"Hello sir. My name is Aladdin!" Causing Sinbad to look at the boy again and smile before quietly introducing himself. He didn't bother turning on the charm, after all with kids as young and impressionable as the one in Masrur's grasp charm was very rarely needed to dazzle them.

And besides, he didn't want to somehow overwhelm the boy.

"Aladdin, hello. My name is Sinbad. And the young one behind me is my friend Ja-far, and I already see that you've met my other friend Masrur since he seems to have a little monkey on his back." Sinbad said pleasantly as he reached out to shake the little boy's hand only to have his hand smacked sharply by Masrur who muttered,

"Don't. Touch."

As Sinbad rubbed the back of his hand and glared at his general for a moment before saying, "Ow. What did you do _that_ for?"

"It's because sis told him to guard me, Mr. Sinbad." Aladdin chirped as Masrur reached up and took a moment to let his fingertips ghost along the boy's ribs causing him to double over and laugh.

_Oh good_, he thought as another faint smile tugged at the corners of his lips. He had hoped the child would be ticklish.

"G-Guard you?" Sinbad parroted back uncertainly. Aladdin nodded his head, his expression suddenly very somber and un child-like.

"Yeah. There was a strange man not too long ago who kept trying to take my clothes off and do weird things to me... I think sis went to kill him." The boy said. His words startling Sinbad, Ja-far and Masrur somewhat as Masrur pulled him off of his shoulders and growled out,

"What do you mean?" His scarlet eyes boring into the little one's skull as he waited for him to reply.

"Well... Stuff like this has happened before. Back when sis and I were separated before. Though no one ever tried to take my clothes off back then though... But sis, when she final found me. I was at a brothel and-" Aladdin stopped talking for a second as he recalled what had happened as if it were yesterday. "Well, sis got really, really mad that I was in that place. So she hunted down the boss and skinned him alive."

Of course by this point two of the three men were blanching and looking panicked while the third, Masrur, quickly thrust the boy into Ja-far's arms and hissed out, "Protect him." And then took off through the throng of people after Alexia. Hoping that he could track her down before she bloodied her hands.

(*******************************************************************************************************************************)

"Um, s-so Aladdin, you were separated from your sister for quite a while after the dungeon incident. You must be feeling exhausted. Do you want to come back to the inn with Sinbad and I and get something to eat and rest a little bit until you're sister comes back?" Ja-far asked the little boy kindly.

Aladdin blinked up at the blond haired man and was about to answer when someone fell from the sky and landed just a few feet away, sending up a dust cloud that made the three cough and wave their hands in front of their faces in an effort to see through the dirt cloud.

"Aladdin?" A husky feminine voice called out softly, causing the boy to squirm a little bit in Mr. Ja-far's grasp as he called out.

"Morg! Is that you?"

"Yes." Came the husky voiced reply as the dirt cloud settled a little bit to reveal a young fanilis girl with slightly longish red hair and scarlet eyes, wearing a plain white knee length dress.

Squirming even more in Ja-far's grasp, and held his arms out to the red headed teen whom reached out and basically pulled the boy from Ja-far's grasp before the man could do anything but squawk indignantly while Sinbad stood there watching the whole spectacle with a bemused expression as the girl hugged the boy and took a moment to shoot a mean looking glare in Ja-far's direction.

"Aladdin, did you manage to find-" The girl began to ask as the boy grinned and nodded his head in response to the girl's question. The girl smiled at him and patted him on the head for a moment before taking a moment to look around and then asking with a frown, "If you found Samantha, then where is she?"

At the sound of the mystery woman's name, Sinbad seemed to snap out of his funk and latch onto the name as he tested the name on his lips, "Samantha."

Causing the fanilis girl and Aladdin to both look at him strangely for a moment before Aladdin said, "How come you say that your my sis's friend when you don't even know her name?"

Sinbad blanched a little bit under the boy's unwavering stare and looked to Ja-far who quickly used his hands to sign out, _Lie! _Causing the king to begin sweating a little bit in anxiousness as he tried to think up a nice, believable lie.

(***********************************************************************************************************************)

Masrur picked up Alexia's trail about a mile from where they originally started from, her sweet spicy scent carrying within it her disgust and anger towards the one whom had tried to hurt her brother.

His legs eating up the ground beneath his feet, his heart pumping almost to the point of pain- Masrur finally caught sight of Alexia just ahead of him. She had a wiry looking fellow dressed in a dark red vest by the neck, his feet dangling off of the ground as she slowly began to squeeze his throat, cutting off his air. Choking him.

Masrur ran up to the girl and wrapped an arm around her middle and pulled her away so that he could slam her against the nearest wall, making sure to use his hand to cushion the back of her head since he didn't want to injure or render her unconscious unless he felt he absolutely had too.

"Alexia..." Masrur began when she lashed out and attempted to shove him back away from her so that she could get her hands on the wheezing man sitting on the ground a few feet away rubbing his neck. "You can't kill him."

She struggled in his grasp for several moment's before becoming frustrated and yelling, "I could if you'd just let me go!"

After which Masrur let out a low feral sounding growl and grabbed the struggling young woman around the waist and unceremoniously tossed her over his shoulder where she began to push against his back as he looked around for a second in an effort to find a nice quiet place to carry her so that she could release the pent up anger and rage within her before she actually managed to get loose and kill someone.

Finally after a moment of deliberation, he took a flying leap.

Using the strength of his legs to carry them both far, far above the ground by rooftop until he finally managed to relocate them at least two miles from their original location where he landed deftly on another rooftop and then carefully placed Alexia on her feet in front of him.

He half expected her to shriek at him. To call him all sorts of terrible things.

But instead she just sort of wobbled a little bit in place, her face dangerously pale as he reached out to carefully steady her. "Alexia?"

"I-I don't feel well." She stammered out before quickly slapping a hand over her mouth, her face going a peculiar bloodless white as her legs gave out and she started to fall. Masrur grabbed her as she fell and pulled her against his chest and became just a bit more concerned when she suddenly doubled over and vomited.

Thankfully she missed his feet, but then- it wasn't like he had never had someone puke on him before.

Ja-far had done it- the first time he'd ever gotten hammered.

And Sinbad had done it once or twice after being poisoned.

_Still_... He wasn't a huge fan of having squishy feet. But he was fairly certain that given the suddenness of her illness that he would forgive her if she had accidentally gotten him. Holding her close to him, he absently rubbed her back as she emptied the contents of her stomach several more times before coughing and going limp in his hold.

Her breathing somewhat ragged as he laid her down on the roof and carefully smoothed her dark hair back from her pale face. His scarlet eyes studying her for a moment before he decided that he needed to get her back to the inn and find the others.

Something was wrong. Like seriously wrong.

And he didn't know what it was, but he was damn well going to find out.


	7. Chapter 7

Masrur wasted no time.

How could he? Alexia was ill and she obviously needed help. So after carefully slipping his arms under nether her still body, he gently lifted her up off of the rooftop where she had been laying and cradled her against his chest and began moving. Ever aware that he may have to stop from time to time to allow her to empty her stomach before he continued on his way.

However Alexia didn't need to stop.

If anything his leaping from roof to roof didn't seem to bother her at all. But then for all intents and purposes she appeared to be unconscious to him- so he wasn't absolutely sure if she was even aware of their rooftop flight back towards the market where he had left his king and fellow general with her younger brother knowing that it wouldn't take him more than two or three minutes to reach them.

* * *

Sinbad was stammering out some wild, brilliant, and epic tale about how he had met Aladdin's sister when the boy just happened to look up and said, "You're friend is back," Almost at the same exact time Masrur came falling from the sky like the young fanilis girl had.

He deftly hit the ground a mere few steps from everyone and then turned to look at both his king and Ja-far as he carefully shifted Alexia in his grasp in an attempt to make her more comfortable as Sinbad's voice died off and Ja-far came rushing over yelling, "What the- Masrur what happened to her?!" As Aladdin turned and looked at his friend Morgiana and motioned with his head for her to follow him as he followed the men with his sister.

The two kids hanging back a little bit as the men argued among themselves for a moment about Samantha's current state before Aladdin stepped in and pushed his way past Mr. Sinbad and Mr. Ja-far so that he could get a better look at his sister.

Sinbad reached out to grab the boy- just in case whatever his sister had was something that could be caught by other's but before he could actually manage to grasp the boy, his wrist was caught in a nearly crushing grip and he turned his head to glance at the culprit despite being already aware of the fact that it was Aladdin's young friend.

_"Don't."_ The girl said as Aladdin reached out and touched his sister's pale face with one hand. Checking for a fever while simultaneously monitoring her breathing before turning to his friend and saying,

"Morg, do you still have that stuff that sis gave to you for safe keeping just in case of emergencies?"

The girl, whom had been having a staring contest with Sinbad for the time being, finally broke eye contact with him and released his wrist as she turned her head and nodded in response to Aladdin's question.

The boy made a funny sound as he reached up and unwound his turban and tossed it up in the air where it began to hover just a few inches off of the ground in accordance to his will as he turned to Masrur and pointed to the floating object and said, "Get on."

Masrur wasted no time with arguing with the boy about which mode of travel was faster since it was no contest.

Fanilis were fast. Incredibly so.

But dungeon items- especially the enchanted one's- were far, _far_ faster. Especially when the person using them had great reserves of innate magical ability. Which apparently seemed to run in Alexia's family if her little brother was able to use such a thing so easily.

Climbing onto the floating clothe, Masrur sat down with his legs crossed and placed Alexia carefully in his lap, making sure that his arms still cradled her upper body as he arranged for her legs to drape over one of his own while he fussed with the position of her head, wanting her to be as comfortable as possible as he waited for Aladdin to climb on.

"Morgiana, could I-"

The girl nodded and quickly collected something out of the leather satchel that she had been carrying and handed it to the boy who then looked over the items.

There was a strange glass bottle with a lightly colored liquid in it, and several of what looked to be darts or needles. Once the boy was sure that he had everything, he nodded his head and climbed onto the magical item and sat down next to Masrur and said, "I'll meet all of you at the place you're staying. I'm going on ahead."

At which point the magical item began to fly.

Masrur, silently thanked the gods for making him a sturdy fellow since he was fairly certain that if he weren't so sturdy and was more Alexia or Aladdin's size that eh probably would have tumbled off of the damned dungeon item and fallen to his death by now.

As it was he wasn't completely sure just _how_ Aladdin managed to stay firmly planted in place. He kept feeling the strange need to reach out and place his hand on the small boy's shoulder and hold him there just in case.

"Where is the inn you and your friends are staying at?" The boy questioned after a moment or so as he messed with the 'darts' and the peculiar liquid in his small hands. Taking the time to prepare several of the items for use.

Masrur looked ahead and saw the red roof of the inn and pointed to it as he replied, "There." Causing the flying item to speed over to the inn in question and then lower safely to the ground where he and the boy calmly climbed off of it.

And while Aladdin was gathering it back up and re wrapping it around his head as he followed Masrur inside of the building where the man quickly made his way to his room and none too gently threw open the door after shifting his hold on Alexia just a little bit so that he could free one of his hands.

Moving across the room, Masrur's long legs ate up the distance between the door and the bed that Alexia had slept in the night before, where he carefully lay the young woman as Aladdin quietly made his way over to the bed and climbed up onto it so that he was beside his sister.

Masrur almost reached out and plucked the boy from the bed, in fact he was about too when he saw Aladdin pull out one of the darts that he had prepared during the flight to the inn as he grabbed Alexia's arm and turned it so that he wrist was up.

Vein's first.

Masrur began to get a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as his fingers twitched, his eyes locking on the dart. And he had to stop himself to keep from slapping it out of the boy's hand as he slowly lowered it until he pierced the tender skin of Alexia's wrist with it.

"I never asked, but did she find the guy who tried to take my clothes off?" Aladdin asked as he slowly withdrew the dart from his sister's wrist and placed his thumb over the small needle hole in her skin to staunch the bleeding. After all he had just injected her medicine right into her vein.

And while he hated the fact that he'd had to use her wrist, mainly because the last time he had done so, he had wound up actually injuring Samantha- he knew that in her current state she needed the medicine he had just given to her if she was to recover and be able to function normally again.

Beside him, the tall red haired man merely nodded in response to his question. Causing the boy to sigh tiredly and mutter, "I shouldn't have said anything about the man..." Confusing Masrur somewhat before the boy asked in a wary sounding tone, "S-She didn't kill him did she?"

"No." _But it certainly wasn't for lack of trying on her part_. Masrur thought to himself as the boy nodded his head slowly and then removed his hand from Alexia's wrist and then laid her hand on her stomach.

"I owe you one then for stopping her." Aladdin said as he shifted and began to slowly climb off of the bed just as Morgiana appeared with Sinbad and Ja-far quickly following just a few steps behind her.

Masrur looked up at the intrusion of the three and for a moment, his protective instinct reared it's ugly head. His body tensed, his scarlet eyes narrowed slightly- but upon feeling Aladdin's small hand on his forearm- he gradually began to relax as the three came further into his room ad stopped just shy of the bed.

The young fanilis girl moving to stand over by Aladdin as the two exchanged a peculiar look.

"How is she?" Sinbad was the first to speak, a small frown marring his handsome face as he glanced at Samantha's prone figure on the bed.

Masrur looked down at Aladdin in hopes that he could tell them something since he had no idea what had happened. The boy picked up the subtle hint and smiled as he said, "She'll be fine in a few hours. I was able to give her her medicine."

Morgiana looked at the older girl with a curious look on her face before humming in agreement, "That's good. Look, her color is starting to come back." Upon hearing which, Masrur turned his head to look down at the woman and silently breathed a soft sigh of relief.

"That's a relief." Ja-far muttered as he looked at his king.

Sinbad nodded his head in agreement as he watched Aladdin hand over what was left of the darts and the vial of liquid so that she could put them away again as Ja-far asked curiously, "If you don't mind my asking, what sort of medicine is that? Has your sister been sick long?"

Aladdin looked at the nice blond man and slowly nodded his head in understanding. "She's been sick like this her whole life- as far as I know. Before she came to find me she used various other medicines to try and control her..._illness_." The way the small boy said the word was odd. As if what was wrong with his sister wasn't really considered an actual illness but was in fact something else. "But when she finally managed to find me she had to resort to other things." The boy explained as he took the vial of liquid from his friend before she could put it away and held it up as he went on to explain.

"You see, sis doesn't have a normal illness. Because those a person can get over fairly easily. She was born with this particular, uh, affliction and uses a complex mix of medicinal herbs and spells combined to _create_ this stuff. It's purpose is to act as a suppressant and pain reliever so that she can function normally around people. The neat thing about this is that she doesn't always have to use it. Samantha is fairly adept at suppressing things on her own."

"It's true," Morgiana said, briefly interrupting her young friend long enough to say, "When the two of us first met it wasn't on friendly terms. We fought. And while I took damage, Sam took far more. I'm sure that she had more than a few broken bones and ruptured organs from our match..."She frowned a little bit and then muttered in a slightly dark tone, "She still managed to beat me."

Aladdin giggled as he recalled exactly _how_ his sister had won her fight with Morg.

She'd done what she usually did to him when he picked fights with her.

Instead of getting mad at how much pain he or Morg inflicted on her, mentally and otherwise- she always approached and retaliated the same way. A very long and strength draining tickle attack that left the recipient a quivering mess of giggles and gasps.

"_Anyways-_ As I was saying, Samantha is fairly adept at suppressing things on her own. But from time to time her affliction kicks in and overwhelms her to the point where," He pointed at his resting sister, "She gets very ill and loses consciousness. And if left in such a state for too long... Her affliction could literally drive her insane."

There was a stretch of silence for several moments before Masrur managed to ask, "Aladdin, just _what_ kind of affliction could do such a thing to a person?"

"The kind that has to do with a long dormant magical ability."


	8. Chapter 8

_A long dormant magical ability..._

"Hn." Sinbad hummed as he continued to mull over Aladdin's words about his sister Samantha.

It was a tad bit later in the day and everyone had more or less taken up temporary residence within Masrur's room, much to the man's annoyance. Sinbad was seated on a lounge chair over by one of the window's with Ja-far hovering near-by with a pitcher of wine since the man had been drinking for the past hour or so while he thought over young Aladdin's words.

And the more he thought- apparently the more he needed to drink something since strangely enough, alcohol seemed to help his thought process.

When he wasn't flat ass drunk that is.

Morgiana was with Aladdin, both kids curled up next to and against- Samantha, was it?- on Masrur's bed, sound asleep for the moment.

Leaving the three me more or less to their own vices.

Something that Masrur apparently was gradually developing quite a few of since meeting Samantha. Especially considering his somewhat noticeable interest in the young woman. At the moment he was hovering next to the bed, his unblinking scarlet eyes trained solely on the woman's sleeping face.

His mind continuously playing out the events from earlier as he mentally chastised himself for letting her put herself into such a situation that could cause her affliction to take such a strong strangle hold on her and hurt her.

He felt, for lack of a better word, helpless.

Especially since Aladdin had taken the time to explain that part of Samantha's affliction was triggered by the presence of people. No- that wasn't the word the boy had used. He had used the word, _male, _as if it were one of the most loathsome words he had ever heard. And for good reason.

Since Aladdin had then explained that the darker and more sinister the spirit and thoughts of the man/boy/male near her- the stronger the hold her affliction would have on her body and mind. So much so that there were some times where Samantha suffered actual physical injury from the experience due to what her affliction made her feel.

The boy had even gone on to state that to date, the worst physical injury that she had ever gotten from her affliction- had nearly cost her her life.

The boy had even told them in great and vivid detail of how he had found her and the state that she had been in. He had then said very plainly that she had been bedridden for almost three months while trying to heal.

Leaving the three men utterly speechless with shock by the time that he was finished due to the terrible things his sister had suffered because of her affliction.

After all none of them had ever heard of someone with such power that they actually suffered an physical backlash from it that could prove fatal.

Soon after he had finished speaking with them about his sister, Aladdin had handed Morgiana (he finally got around to introducing the girl) the medicine and then asked if it would be okay if he laid down with his sister, stating that sometimes she had bad nightmares and having him nearby would help calm her if she should have one while resting.

Masrur had nodded his head to the boy and then reached out and then picked him up and placed him on the bed so that he wouldn't have to climb and then was about to tuck him in next to his sister when the girl asked if she could curl up next to the siblings as well.

Masrur had hesitated for a moment, seemingly thinking over the girl's request when Aladdin had spoken up causing him to allow the girl to crawl into his bed and stretch out next to Aladdin who was curled up against his sister's side. Thus wedging the small boy between the two female's.

_The lucky little_\- Mentally shaking himself from his thoughts he looked at Sam, then Aladdin and Morgiana- all of whom caused this peculiar warm and fuzzy feeling to well up in the vicinity of his chest.

They all looked content.

Aladdin snuggled in Samantha's arms with his small hand holding onto Morg's as if he were scared that he may wake up and find her gone.

"They must be rather fond of each other." Ja-far whispered from across from him, causing Masrur to look away from the three and blink. "Like a rag-tag family. Don't you think?" The blond asked with a soft smile gracing his lips.

Masrur didn't make a sound, he didn't really need too to agree with his fellow general.

He could easily _see_ just how much affection was between the three. Samantha was both a mother and sister to both kids. That much was obvious.

How could it not be with how protective she was towards Aladdin?

And Morgiana was pretty much attached to Aladdin at the hip and from the way the girl had spoken earlier... Her voice when she had spoken of Samantha had held so much admiration, awe and respect for the woman that it was a wonder that the girl allowed said woman out of her sight at all for any length of time.

Fanilis were funny that way.

Once a person had their loyalty, they had that loyalty for life. However long or short a time that may be. And with the way he was quickly altering his behavior patterns...hopefully some day soon he would be considered an father/brother to young Aladdin and his friend.

Yeah. He would like that.

To actually have a family for once instead of an illusion, dream, or empty hope.


	9. Chapter 9

It was sometime just before dinner when Aladdin finally began to stir from his sleep and opened his dark blue eyes to find that Mr. Masrur had gone from standing really, really close to where his sister lay. To sitting on the edge of the bed, one of his hands carefully placed just beside one of Samantha's shoulders- just shy of actually touching it- and he was holding himself eerily still.

His scarlet eyes never straying far from Sam's face.

Even when Aladdin finally began to show signs of life again.

The boy remained still, his body pressing against his sister's as much as possible without either his or her own limbs getting in the way as he tilted his head just a little bit to study Mr. Masrur's position for a moment before realizing that the man's entire focus was entirely on Sam.

Deciding to toe the invisible line that the man himself seemed to be attempting to test, Aladdin waited until those scarlet eyes flickered to him before getting up on his hands and knees a bit, and shifting himself so that he was rubbing up against his sister like an overgrown cat. Knowing that it would illicit a response no matter how small from her even in her current state.

And boy did it, though it wasn't exactly the response that Aladdin was used too- this was still somewhat entertaining to behold. He thought as Samantha's hand slid up along the mattress of the bed, a small frown marring her features as she attempted to search for his wrist so that she could yank him off balance and roll him half under her like she usually did.

However Aladdin appeared to have some thoughts of his own on what should occur here and thus removed one arm from the bed by placing it behind his back. Causing the searching hand to instead grasp Masrur's own.

The man watched the young boy curiously, wondering what he was up too since he wore a rather mischievous look upon his little face that Masrur was beginning to feel would not bode well for him as his eyes flickered to Alexia-er Samantha.

Her name was Samantha.

Anyways, his eyes flickered to Samantha's face just as her questing hand managed to come into contact with his own.

Letting out a soft hiss upon feeling her hand on his skin, he was in the midst of silently debating on whether or not he should pull away. When her hand began a small trail up from his hand to his wrist before her fingers wrapped around him in a surprisingly strong grip that sent a peculiar sensation of _heat_ licking along his skin, causing the muscles in his lower abdomen to clench just before she yanked on his arm and oddly enough- sent the man sprawling onto his side facing Samantha.

His eyes widened almost to the size of plates as he realized just how close the two of them were just before Sam seemed to drag him by his wrist- even closer and then shifted her body so that she was partially sprawled on top of him, her face buried against his throat where he could _feel_ her breath each time it ghosted along his skin as he struggled with himself not to release the low rumbling growl that was building in his chest. As Aladdin's face suddenly appeared in his direct line of vision and grinned down at him.

"Comfortable?" He questioned cheerfully as Masrur tried not to squirm underneath Samantha's slight weight. Aladdin's eyes locked with his own and he caught a faint glimpse of a knowing look on the young boy's face.

As if he _knew_ what Masrur was thinking. What he had been wanting from the very first time that the two had met. But that was impossible, the boy was nothing more than a child. There was no way that he could understand the complexities of courtship or...other things.

Forcing his heartbeat to slow and his breathing pattern to return to normal, Masrur gave the boy a narrow eyes look before replying, "Very."

Causing the boy to give him a narrow eyed look just before a sly smirk curved his lips and he said,

"Oh? Let's see if we can do something about that then." As he reached out and very slowly and deliberately ran his index finger very carefully along Samantha's spine, just between her shoulder blades. Causing the woman to let out a breathy moan and squirm around- as if trying to escape Aladdin's questing fingertip.

Which in turn nearly caused Masrur to wrap his arms around Samantha and roll her underneath him. His instincts abruptly sounding out a warning that if the woman didn't still herself, he would wind up taking her here and now. Onlookers and mischievous children be damned.

As it was he had already reached up to grip the woman's slender shoulders and thrown one of his legs over her own in an effort to keep her from moving around so damned much. However he stiffened when he felt her squirm against a particularly sensitive part of his anatomy, causing his lips to part slightly as he gave a soft hiss of warning as his small fangs began to lengthen a bit within his mouth.

Aladdin pulled his hand away and tilted his head to the side a little bit and regarded the man with a curious expression before going, "Ah. So that's how it is. I thought so," Seeming to speak more to himself than Masrur as the man glared at him. Silently promising to toss him out of the bedroom the first chance that he got as the boy flashed him a quick grin and then leaned in and said carelessly, "I'll leave you to it then. Oh don't forget to behave yourself. Especially since I doubt that even you would be able to get away with anything ungentlemanly with Morgiana laying just right there."

And with that the boy slipped off of the bed and all but skipped out of the room, leaving Masrur in his precarious position- wishing very much to at least be able to throw something at the child for his foolishness.


	10. Chapter 10

Masrur lay there on his bed with Samantha partially lying on top of him and felt the insane need to almost whimper as her body shifted ever so slightly over his own until he was forced to spread his legs a bit so that she could settle her body between them.

Pressing up against him in one of the more torturous and yet oddly intimate of ways that he had to bite down on his bottom lip to keep any sound from escaping him as Sinbad's head popped into his line of vision for a moment.

His king looked like he was having a good laugh at his expense, though no sound really left him.

Masrur narrowed his scarlet eyes at his king for a moment as the man took a moment or so to calm himself before speaking in a whispered tone, "Sorry. But this_ is_ amusing... Anyways, Ja-far and I are going to go see about doing some last minute work before dinner. You should stay here and be Samantha's pillow until she's well enough to get up and join us." Sinbad said before he was pushed aside and Ja-far took his place and whispered.

"And tell Samantha not to worry too much, Sinbad and I will watch Aladdin and keep him out of mischief."

Masrur blinked at the two and was about to shake his head no- they couldn't leave him like this! If they left him like this who was to keep him from doing something stupid? Like feeling Samantha up or something. God knew that she was rather...uh..._affectionate_? In her sleep.

Not to mention the fact that she was pressed up against him in such an distracting manner that he was worried that he may forget that she was defenseless and innocent. As well as the fact that there was another fanilis present.

Yet before he could so much as do anything more than shake his fist at both Sinbad and Ja-far- they were already across the room at the door and moving on.

_The sorry bastards. _Masrur thought darkly as Samantha began to rub her face in a very slow and deliberately sensual manner across his chest. Occasionally pausing in her rubbing to nuzzle him as a small frown worked it's way across her pretty face.

Wondering just what the hell she was doing, Masrur gripped her upper arms in a loose but firm grip and was about to remove her from him when the other girl that had been resting on his bed rolled over and cracked an eye open a sliver and looked at him and then Samantha for a moment before making a small huffing sound and then pushing herself upright on the bed.

"She's smelling you, I see." The girl said in a slightly groggy tone as if to answer his unasked question.

Frowning at the fanilis's somewhat questionable observation, Masrur mouthed the words. "How do I make her stop?" And received a somewhat amused look for his efforts before the girl mouthed back.

"You can't. Just go with it."

To which Masrur growled out, "What the hell sort of advice is that?" The sound of his voice causing Samantha to stiffen and go completely still. Glancing down at her, Masrur's heart did this weird _thu-thu-thump_ in his chest as blood went roaring in his ears while Samantha slowly opened her eyes and blinked.

Once.

Twice.

And then- Frowning a little bit, she locked eyes with Masrur's own and he sucked in a ragged breath as he felt this peculiar sensation almost akin to chills, run down his spine upon seeing her green eyes. His heart thundering in his chest, his lungs burning from lack of oxygen, and he just couldn't look away from her as she placed a small hand on his chest. Directly over his heart, and slowly pushed herself up until she was sitting on her heels and took a moment to look around the room before asking,

"Aladdin?"

Finally free Masrur sat up so that his body was just a few inches from her own as he replied, "He's with Sinbad and Ja-far. They both assured me that they would keep him out of mischief until you awoke."

Samantha turned her head a little bit, her dark hair falling in her eyes and framing her pretty face as she made a low humming sound before looking at the young girl sitting on the edge of his bed and saying, "Morg, bring Aladdin back here would you."

The girl nodded her head and got up and quickly exited the room, leaving the two adults alone for the first time since earlier that day.

"What happened?" Samantha asked curiously. Not really able to recall anything aside from meeting up with the kids earlier.

"You got sick." Masrur said simply, not wanting to go into detail about just how badly she had scared him when she had become ill so suddenly and then lost consciousness.

"I did?" She asked, her expression appeared to be somewhat shocked to him.

She looked like she hadn't expected that answer.

Frankly he wasn't exactly sure that he could blame her. Aladdin had said that her affliction (depending on the severity of it at the time) usually came with a wide variety of side effects. Confusion, memory loss (both temporary and long term) as well as lack of sleep, lack of appetite, fever, vomiting and so on.

The list went on quite a bit, so really he wasn't all that surprised that she had forgotten what had occurred. He'd have to talk to the kids later on however to make sure that neither of them dredged up the events that had happened before she had fallen ill.

He didn't think he'd care much for a repeat of the experience. Even if it was something that she couldn't control.

"Yeah."

"Oh... I-I see." She said as she shifted so that she could bring her knees up to her chest and seemed to withdraw from the conversation.

Or more to the point, she withdrew from_ him_. Not physically but emotionally anyways. Which was something that he didn't like very much since he planned to make her his mate someday in the not too distant future.

Reaching out, Masrur slid his fingers through her dark hair- pushing it back away from her face a little bit as he asked softly, "Do you need anything? Water? Food? More rest?"

She looked up at him for a moment, her garnet red eyes seemed to be searching his expression for something. And when she was unable to find it or see past his mask of indifference then she turned her head, none too carefully extracting her dark hair from his grasp before replying, "No. I'm fine."

Eyes narrowing slightly at her actions as well as her lie, he thought of calling her on them both but stopped himself at the last moment and merely sighed and said, "Very well. Dinner should be ready soon if you want to take this time to bathe and change your clothing or freshen up some."

"Nah, I'm fine." Samantha said in a tired tone. Masrur made a humming sound as he lifted one hand to his hair and ran his fingers through his slightly shaggy mane before saying.

"Alright then."


	11. Chapter 11

Masrur didn't bother leaving the room as Samantha got up and began moving around. He was simply too worried that she may still be suffering some adverse affects from her earlier illness. And being the creature of habit that he was- he decided to stick close by just in case she needed him for something.

After all, he didn't want her to have a relapse and pass out and possibly hit her head or something.

That would be terrible.

So instead he settled himself in and merely watched her as she flitted from one corner of the room to another in an almost nervous manner that he found- well, peculiar. At least until it finally hit him that she was nervous. And he was possibly the reason why.

Which wasn't altogether flattering, yet at the same time sort of was since it meant that she was keenly aware of him as a male. And finally after what seemed like _f-o-r-e-v-e-r_ to the normally patient fanilis, he got up out of his chair and walked over to her and caught her around the waist- halting her in mid motion- as he lifted her up to the point where her feet came up off of the ground.

And then carried her back over to his bed and set her down on it on her back and took a moment to lean in over her, one leg partially straddling her waist as he placed his hands on either side of her head and moved forward until their faces were level, their eyes locked.

He let her see what he was thinking.

The lust, his need and want. But also his patience, his kindness and gentleness as well as his fierce warrior's pride.

He was not a man capable of forcing himself on a woman who did not want him. As a fanilis it was simply completely and utterly impossible for him since doing so was much like cutting one's own throat. And frankly he'd rather have a happy mate than one that was miserable and pissed off at him all the time.

Leaning in a bit more, he noted a slight flinch from Samantha as she tried to push herself back away from him so that the same amount of space from before was still between them. It didn't work of course, it only served to trap her more- the silly girl.

Still... The mere fact that she had flinched in the first place was a testament to the fact that she feared him, even if it was just a little.

And he couldn't exactly blame her for that since he had no idea what she may be picking up on from his mind, though he tried to keep his thoughts fairly tame. Well, _tamer_ that Sinbad's usually lusty thoughts anyway.

Leaning in a little more, he paused only when their faces were a mere hairs breath away from each other and she had nowhere else to try and escape too as said softly, "Push me away. If you want me to leave you alone, push me away or I just might-" He stopped there, deciding to either let her ask him what he'd do or simply let her mind supply the rest of what he was implying.

Sucking in a ragged breath underneath him, he attempted to ignore the sudden trembling of her body and the spike of what he could only assume was arousal in her scent as he heard her heartbeat speed up I her chest.

Reaching up, she laid her shaky hands on his shoulders for and for a moment it appeared as if she really was going to push him away before he heard her ask hesitantly, "What might you do?"

He blinked at her for a moment, unsure if he had really heard her ask him the question or if his overly sexed up mind was making him begin to hallucinate or something.

"What?" He asked, wanting to be sure that she had actually asked him the question. After all, it wouldn't do to hallucinate one thing and try to reply to that 'hallucination'.

That was how men like himself got themselves into trouble.

"What might you do?" She asked again, her tone indicating that she either thought he was touched in the head or that she was losing patience with him.

His eyes widened a bit as he silently mouthed, "Oh." And then touched his forehead to her own and muttered, "Read my mind. And then you tell me, what will I do?" He closed his eyes and focused on one thing.

He held the thought firmly in his mind and waited until he heard her gasp as her body jerked a little bit. Her heartbeat doubled it's speed, her scent spiked again. This time when he breathed in her scent, it was so strong that he could almost get drunk off of it.

That overwhelmingly sweet, spicy smell clung to every pore of her skin, the every follicle of hair. To her clothing, it was steeped in her sweat- and he found himself almost whimpering. For every moment he was near her like this, his body was responding in kind.

If she ached, he ached.

If she needed, he needed...

So much so that he began to feel light headed with his need. His eyes slowly slid open so that he could look at her- god he didn't think he would ever tire of simply looking at her- she was simply too beautiful for words with her garnet colored eyes and her long hair tousled from her rest, and her soft pink lips parting slightly as if she wished to speak to him but instead she simply used the tip of her tongue to moisten her dry lips.

Masrur was fascinated by the action. So much so that he mirrored it without thinking.

Her small teeth began to chew on her bottom lip and all he could do was think of all the millions of ways the tiny little subconscious action turned him on. Honestly if this kept up, he felt like he might just burst into flames.

And wouldn't that freak Sinbad and Ja-far out?

Sam's mind was awash with various images and impressions that she was picking up from Masrur's mind. And she had to say, the guy was one kinky bastard when it came to what he wanted. He obviously didn't discriminate as far as sex went.

The main thought and impression that she managed to pick from his mind was that as long as whatever it was he was doing, was with her, then he was game.

And oh boy was he- she could almost feel what it would be like to be taken to his bed even though he wasn't really touching her. She could almost taste the skin that she'd explore with her mouth and tongue and teeth. She could practically feel his breath mingling with her own as he ran his hands over her body before mapping the same areas with his lips.

She could feel the almost painful ache beginning between her legs, and sense his need to ease her. She trembled and bit down on her lower lip just to keep herself still when every instinct that she possessed was urging her to throw her usual caution to the wind and arch her back into him.

Kiss him. Hold him to her and let him ravish her until they were both so sated that they would sleep wrapped up in each other's arms.

She could already hear their future children thanking her for giving in.

However she had never been one to simply bend to another's will. She was simply too free spirited to allow him to manipulate her into giving in to him like this.

She opened her mouth to ask him to please remove himself from her so that she could get back up (and quite possibly run away) when she felt an odd breathtaking sensation almost akin to a chord being pulled taunt just before it snaps, originating from her lower body and wondered if he was still manipulating her when she became aware of the heel of one of his hands digging into her through her pants.

The contact was so sudden and shocking that she jerked almost violently as she had been electrocuted as her back came up off of the bed and a scream was ripped from her throat. Then just as quickly as the weird taunt feeling was there, it was gone and Masrur had her gathered in his arms, her body held firmly against his chest as he brushed something wet- tears maybe? But when had she started crying?- from her cheeks and made a low purring sound.

That's when it hit her- that this man and she were meant to be together.

And it wasn't just because he had just given her mind numbing pleasure a moment ago... It was because they were soul mates caught in the throes of a rare thing.

Mating heat.

He felt it and she was responding to it and to him. She wasn't sure if she liked that little fact, but at the moment, there was nothing that she could do about it except see what happened next.


	12. Chapter 12

Masrur stared at Samantha for what seemed like the millionth time in the past thirty minutes. His mind going over the previous evening's events before he sighed and glanced down at his hand and thought, _Perhaps I went too far. _After what had occurred between them before they had been called to dine with his king and the other's- Samantha's reaction to what had happened hadn't exactly been favorable.

Sure she hadn't fought. Hadn't screamed in female indignation.

She hadn't even slapped him and called him a bastard for touching her.

But that was sort of part of the problem. She hadn't done _anything_ when she should have. She had been vulnerable, and despite knowing that, he had pressed his advantage.

She had every right to be pissed at him. He was smart enough to know that much. He- he just wished that she would _look_ at him. Say something. Throw something at his head.

He didn't care as long as she just acknowledged his presence in the room.

His chest was beginning to ache in a most uncomfortable fashion the longer she pointedly ignored him.

Looking over at the red headed man and then again at his sister, Aladdin couldn't help but think that the man must have done something to his sister. She normally didn't ignore people in the same room with her. And earlier, the man had tried to engage her in conversation only to be shut down automatically by her silence.

Why even the man's two friends, Mister Sinbad and Ja-far looked more than a tad bit concerned for their friend. And if they were concerned for him, then as far as Aladdin knew then he had the right to be concerned for his sister.

Taking a moment to think on how to proceed from here, Aladdin decided it was simply best to cut to the chase and asked, "Sis- are you mad or something?"

Causing Samantha to choke a bit on the food that she had just swallowed alarming Morgiana into thumping her on the back a few times to help clear her throat before Samantha replied somewhat hesitantly, "N-No. I'm not mad. Why do you ask?"

"You're kind of acting like you are."

"Well I'm not." Samantha said again. Making Aladdin slowly shake his head at her.

His poor sister. She was obviously upset about something and didn't know what to do otherwise she would be behaving in a much different manner than she was.

"Liar." Aladdin said, deciding to call her out on her fib and almost laughed at the offended look that crossed her pretty face before she turned her head and looked at him fully. Her garnet red eyes glittering with some unnamed emotion. "So if you aren't really mad or upset, then what's the problem?" He asked curiously knowing that he would either help the red head figure out how to get back into her good graces. Or he just may be joining him in his groveling later on.

"It's a grown up matter Aladdin, just drop it." Sam said as her face turned a pretty shade of pink before the boy outright demanded to know.

"Are you gonna get married?"

This time it was Sinbad who choked and had to be saved by Masrur and Ja-far before things quieted down enough for the fanilis to be able to listen to Samantha's reply.

"W-What?"

_"Are. You. Gonna. Get. Married?"_ Aladdin asked again. His dark blue eyes never once wavering from her face as Sam asked,

"Are you serious?" And upon receiving a nod from her little brother, felt like face palming. _Dear god kill me now_. She thought in irritation before asking, "What brought this on all of a sudden?"

"Well, you're at that age where girl's just wanna settle down and marry and stuff." Aladdin said sagely.

"That's all well and good, but I don't." Sam said very quietly. Aladdin fell silent for a moment as he regarded his sister somberly. His heart aching for her since he knew now just _what_ the problem was.

Sighing, he fully turned in his chair and gave her a cold look before saying lightly, "I never thought of you as a coward." Causing Samantha to stiffen in her seat before gritting out,

"Shut. Up."

"Just because some guys from the Kou empire took advantage of you before you found me doesn't mean-"

"Shut. Up." She said again, this time more forcefully.

"That you have to give up your dreams of having a family!" Aladdin was practically yelling at her now and Samantha was just sitting there quietly taking it.

Something that apparently was alarming Morgiana since the girl was looking back and forth between the two with a worried expression akin to the ones that Sinbad and Ja-far were wearing as Masrur simply listened.

His mind soaking up every word before Samantha finally put an end to Aladdin's tantrum by reaching out and picking up a pitcher sitting on the table and dumped the contents over the little boy's head, effectively silencing him for the moment as she gave him a sickly sweet smile and said, "Go soak you're head."

And then got up out of her seat and walked off muttering random oaths under her breath as she slammed the door to Sinbad's room behind her.

Leaving everyone in stunned silence with the exception of Aladdin, who simply wiped some of the liquid from his face and got up out of his seat to go after his sister.

Their conversation wasn't over.

Not by a long shot.


	13. Chapter 13

Samantha walked quickly, hoping to avoid having Aladdin catch up to her to finish their 'discussion' from before. She was simply too damn upset and mortified to bother stopping to speak to her little brother civilly. And for good reason, it wasn't everyday that a girl's sorted past was basically drug out into the open- in front of people she barely knew no less- by her well meaning little brother.

After all, she didn't like speaking of her time in captivity in the Kou empire for a reason. Those sick bastards had _almost_ destroyed her when they had given her to their empire's magi, Judar, to play with as he saw fit.

And frankly the dark magi's idea of playing was simply far more brutal and painful than she had expected it to be. After all, such horror wasn't what a girl expected when she lost her virginity.

Of course, Aladdin was right. Just because Judar had done..._things_ to her that she would inevitably murder him for if she ever got her hands on him- didn't mean that she had to give up her dreams of one day being a wife and mother. She just wasn't sure how to deal with intimacy issues between herself and...a man right now.

Which was perhaps why she felt so adrift at the moment because of her situation with Masrur.

What had happened earlier between the two of them should have frightened her. Terrified her even, and yet he had been so very, very careful with her. As if he knew that the wrong move would spook her into pushing him away. Yet he had been so very gentle even in the midst of giving her a woman's pleasure while ignoring the needs of his own body.

She wasn't sure what to make of the man.

Now don't get her wrong, she wasn't stupid. She understood very well what had occurred between them before they had left his room to go eat with his king.

They had been caught up in a mating heat. A rare occurrence that only happened between two people destined to be together.

Which would technically make him her future husband...or something.

_I should just grab my things, Aladdin and Morgianna and Stormy-Blue and get the hell out of here before I find myself married before I'm ready. _She thought to herself and let out a startled yelp when something small slammed into her back from overhead.

Staggering a little under the impact she almost fell before she could right herself as she felt slender arms wrap around her neck and felt rather than saw Aladdin's long dark blue hair brushing her cheek as he laid his chin on her shoulder and muttered in her ear, "I wasn't done talkin to you."

"Yeah well, you shouldn't have started that talk in front of people I don't know. My past is exactly that, _my past_. It isn't something that should be brought up in front of others."

"I only brought it up cause that guy, Masrur seems to be interested in you. S'the only reason I find even a little acceptable to even bother bringing up your past. The guy needs to know what he's working against."

Sam snorted at that. Oh he was right, Masrur _was_ interested all right. Now she just needed to figure out what to do with him before he accidentally drove her away screaming into the night.

* * *

Morgianna stared at the three men warily for several heartbeats before chancing a quick glance towards the door in the somewhat desperate hopes that perhaps Samantha or Aladdin just might return before all hell broke loose.

Unfortunately, neither sibling had bothered to return. And she heard the man, Sinbad finally hiss out in a tone that could only be a cross between anger and curiosity. "Kou. The Kou empire had Samantha? Why? When did they have her? How long was she there?"

Morgianna looked towards the door again in a partial attempt to distract herself as a low sound of distress escaped her as she tried to think up a way to leave the room and _hide_ herself somewhere until Samantha and Aladdin manage to return and perhaps clear things up.

However any plans she may or may not have made to escape were halted when Sinbad leaned forward in his seat and slammed his palm down on the table hard enough to get her attention again as he waited for her to answer him.

_"Explain. Now."_ Sinbad demanded as Morgianna inwardly cringed at his impatient tone.

"I-It's not my story to tell. Samantha doesn't like to talk about it. And she likes it even less when people find out." Morgianna said as she shook her head and made a move to get up out of her chair when she felt a hand on the nape of her neck. Strong fingers squeezing the tender skin there, stilling her movement's completely.

"Talk." The older fanilis said close to her ear, causing the girl to whimper before yelling.

"I can't! Sam and Aladdin would both kill me!"

Which wouldn't be too terribly far from the truth since both siblings were notoriously well known for holding grudges and dishing out cruel and unusual punishment to those that crossed them.

"Then perhaps they should tell us what you aren't willing to, hm." Masrur's voice rumbled softly causing Morgianna's mind to almost come to a screeching halt as she shook her head _no_.

"That's a bad idea! A really, really bad idea!" She said in panic and then let out a muffled shriek when she was picked up from her seat by the other fanilis, who with his friends in tow- headed straight for the window. Leaving Morgianna to all but yell at them, "No! Seriously this is a really bad idea!" As the man holding onto her leapt from the window and began to effortlessly move along the rooftops with his two friends easily keeping pace behind him as they headed in the direction that Morgianna could smell her two friends the most.


	14. Chapter 14

"I can't begin to tell you how bad an idea this is," Morgianna said in Masrur's ear as he continued to run and jump the rooftops with his companions following a little ways behind him. The man partially turned his head to look at her for a moment. Red meeting red and clashing. Morgianna's mind stubbornly set on not doing this. And Masrur's mind was stubbornly set on flat out ignoring her advice. "If they wanted you to know then they would have told you to begin with." She tried again, hoping that he would finally listen.

Again she was ignored.

Although if anything, her words did sort of seem to spur the male to run faster. The jerk.

"Why won't you listen to reason?" She finally asked in defeat.

"Because your friend _will_ be my mate." Masrur replied in a determined tone, shocking the already upset girl even more if the fact that her pale face suddenly went totally bloodless was any indication at all.

She said nothing further the rest of the trip. And upon finally reaching the place where he could smell Samantha and Aladdin the strongest, he landed deftly on one of the smaller buildings and set her down on her feet as his two friends finally managed to catch up to him and all of them looked down at the two siblings.

Samantha had her back to them with Aladdin resting with his arms and legs wrapped around her with his chin resting on one of her shoulders. And the boy was speaking softly to his sister.

* * *

Aladdin had been able to sense their coming from a mile away. Morgianna had simply been broadcasting her agitation so..._loudly _that it had simply been too much for the boy to ignore. Sure he knew that the three men were curious about him and his sister. Well, his sister mostly since they thought that she was a magi.

But the truth of the matter went so much deeper than that.

His sister wasn't a magi.

She was an immortal. The holder and protector of the chalice of life.

It was from their late father, Solomon that magi had been created. That the world that they currently resided in had been created, but is was Samantha's limitless power that maintained it. Created the boundless stream of ruhk that allowed reincarnation and other things.

Without her the world that they currently resided in would perish and die. The animals, the land, the sea, the people- even light.

Which was why it was so important to hide her and what she was.

As one who protected the lives of all beings, there were many in the known world who would seek to taint her power and plunge her into darkness.

That couldn't happen.

_He_ _absolutely refused to allow it to happen. _

Especially now that her mate had found her. He almost inwardly snorted at the mere thought of his freaky sister having a mate, but then he shouldn't have been so surprised. She had had a mate in their previous lives as well. She simply hadn't been able to bind herself to the male before the world had been destroyed and she and their father had had to send everyone away.

He didn't know much of what had happened to her after that.

He had been with Ugo in the sacred palace for several hundred years before he had been allowed to mature and be born as he had been meant to be.

But from time to time when she slept, she dreamt of their past life. Of their parents, friends and people and what had happened to everyone once the catastrophe had fallen upon them.

And what he had seen in her dreams had been _horrifying_ beyond words.

To live thousands of years on a destroyed and barren graveyard of a world with no light, no sound, no food, nor drink to sustain you... All while guarding a doorway that should have been destroyed along with the sacred treasures of his late parents.

It was little wonder that his sister was as she was. Between all of that, waking up in a world apart from him and being raised by people she didn't know or understand. Then returning to the world in search of him and all the other things that had happened- it was a wonder that his sister was able to function to the degree that she could at all.

He knew he'd certainly be numb to things if it had been him.

But then he wasn't immortal. Nor was he a keeper/protector. He was a magi. An ancient and extremely powerful one in his own right despite his lack of knowledge, however Sam had been teaching him spells and such here and there. Enough to keep him out of trouble and help him be able to defend himself better anyways.

But that was neither here nor there. And he needed to get things moving along so that his sister's mate could reclaim her before something else happened.

"You know that I love you right." It wasn't a question. Merely a statement of fact. His love for his sister was as pure as it was terrifying. Just as hers was for him.

If she were ever ripped from him again and hurt, he would _destroy_ nations to get to her. His status as a magi could be damned.

"Yes, I know."

"And you know that I only wish for you to be happy."

"Yes." Sam said, she sounded exhausted. Probably because her ability was causing her to feel what he was thinking despite the mental blocks that he had in place. Sometimes he simply slipped up and thought too loudly.

Perhaps it was due to his age.

"And you know that I'll never let anyone hurt you again without injuring or killing them right?" He wasn't joking when he said it, he was dead serious about keeping her safe. After all the pain and misery she had experienced before in the other world and again in this one- she deserved to live lifetimes being happy.

Having a family. A mate. Kids.

_Oh dear god I'm going to help that bastard land my sister and become an uncle in the process. _Aladdin thought to himself. Not entirely sure if he was secretly distraught or pleased by the idea.

Maybe a little bit of both? He'd worry about the specifics of the thought later.

Sam nodded her head as he slowly climbed down off of her back and walked around to her front and gently took her wrists in his small hands and said clearly enough for the man and his friends to hear. "I mean it. I will never let anyone rape you again. "

His eyes flickered to the face of the red head standing next to Morg, taking in the males suddenly pale features a moment before he slowly backed away a bit until he was out of sight. Though he didn't leave. He was still listening.

"I will never let anyone interested in your power, take you from me again." This time he was looking directly at the purple haired man and almost smirked when the man flinched as if he had been slapped as he too backed away until he was out of sight.

* * *

The men were shaken by what the had just heard Aladdin say. Understandably so. For Sin, his interest in Samantha had probably been seen as little more than what the people from Kou had shown an interest in her for. And for Masrur... He was shaken to his very core by what he had heard.

Which was- normal, Sin and Ja-far supposed.

After all once a fanalis found a viable mate they became very protective of that person. Almost to the point where they would revert to some of their more primitive instincts and impulses. However for the time being Masrur had managed not to revert to those things just yet.

Probably because he was more concerned with courting Sam than anything else. Well...until now at least.

Now, he would revert somewhat. It was simply something that was unavoidable at this point in the game.

Reaching out absently, Ja-far grabbed Morgianna by the scruff of the neck and dragged her over to his distraught friends and growled out, "Alright so we know what happened now- Fill us in on what wasn't said."


End file.
